


Tee Shirt

by GraceElizabeth



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Inspired by Music, M/M, Post Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-12
Updated: 2014-06-12
Packaged: 2018-02-04 08:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1772044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GraceElizabeth/pseuds/GraceElizabeth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve is moving to a new apartment and finds some old things of Bucky's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tee Shirt

**Author's Note:**

> This work is based loosely off of Tee Shirt by Birdy. 
> 
> Many thanks to theactualmishacollins.tumblr.com for being the beta on this!

Steve was unpacking some boxes when he stumbled across Bucky’s belongings. The man never had much: just some books and a smattering of clothes. Steve gently rooted through his old best friend’s things, careful not to damage any. Time had done enough. A flash of washed out color caught his eye. A shirt. Bucky and Steve may not have aged, but it sure had. It was threadbare and the color had faded, but once, back in the ‘40s, it had been a nice bright blue color. Steve picked it up carefully, and ran the fabric between his fingers.  
 _The two men – scarcely more than boys – were unpacking their few things into the new apartment they had bought together. Steve, being the smaller and weaker of the two, was arranging the clothes and toiletries, and Bucky, everything else. The frail man picked a plain blue shirt out of Bucky’s bag. It was nothing out of the ordinary, but for some reason Steve liked it. A lot. He kept it in his grip a few minutes too long, before going to hang it up._  
“Wow, I used to love this shirt,” he said aloud to an empty room.  
 _Bucky always wore the shirt as a nightshirt. Steve would eye him, catching himself looking away just before Bucky noticed. Until one day he did._  
“Stevie, you always look at me longer and harder when I wear this damn shirt. What’s so special about it?”  
“I-I just like the color a lot,” Steve stammered.  
Bucky laughed. “No need to be nervous, punk. I was just curious. Listen, you want it? It’s an old thing, little tight on me as it is.”  
“Bucky, I… I’m not taking it from you,”  
“You’re not taking it from me, I’m giving it to you… As soon as I’m done with it today, that is, and it’s clean again,” Bucky insisted.  
“Thank you, Buck.”  
Of course, the shirt was way too big on Steve, but he wore it any chance he got regardless.  
Steve pulled himself out of the long gone memory, a hesitant thought forming. He might as well wearing it again. It was reminiscent of one of the few happy memories he had from before he was frozen. Lately, most of his memories had been tainted by images of Bucky in the Hydra base, Bucky falling, Bucky as the Winter Soldier…  
When a good memory came, he held onto it for dear life.

-

Bucky’s memories had begun to return, some more forcefully than others. Many were in fragments, but some were complete.  
The big memory, the one that had stuck with him for months and the one he kept returning to, was the one about a shirt he had had. A shirt Steve had loved.  
 _Steve would always look at Bucky more when he wore the light blue shirt that was, by now, slightly too tight on him. Steve probably thought he was real sneaky and that Bucky never noticed his stares. He always did. He never minded, though. It didn’t bother him. He was curious, however, as to why Steve was interested in the garment. It was just a shirt, right?_  
Bucky asked Steve about the shirt, and ended up giving it to him. Steve liked the color, and Bucky had never found any others like it again.  
Out of all the memories Bucky had gotten, fragments or whole, this was the one that had stuck with him the most. He wasn’t sure why, but he figured it was important… or would be, at least.

-

Steve was surprised to find himself in the overly loved shirt at least once a week. It made him feel… comforted and, though he was loath to admit it, made him miss Bucky less.  
He had almost given up on looking for Bucky. Might as well let Bucky find him if he wanted to, and not rush it.

Three months later, Bucky found Steve. Well, he let Steve know he found him. He had been watching Steve for a while, making sure he was okay. He made sure to keep his distance, though, while he was remembering who he was before Hydra got to him and made him Winter Soldier.  
On this particular day, he decided to abandon his plan of picking the lock and just rang the doorbell. Steve nearly didn’t answer the door. But he did, and he couldn’t help but smile a little through the raging storm of emotions.  
Bucky was the first one to say anything. “You always used to love that shirt.”


End file.
